Chemical structure rendering software is widely used by research and educational institutions to depict chemical structures and chemical reactions of interest. Unlike chemical formulas or chemical names, structural formulas provide a graphical representation of the molecular structure. A graphical chemical structure representation is capable of indicating the arrangements of atoms in a way that a chemical formula cannot.
Current methods for drawing and editing chemical structures on a computer utilize mouse-driven or touch pad commands that include pointing and clicking on displayed menu items in a graphical user interface. Existing chemical structure rendering applications for handheld electronic devices such as tablet computers and portable phones utilize the same menu-driven paradigm. These applications can be clumsy when attempting to draw complex chemical structures including many separate elements.